At the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the son also rises
If you will forgive a father’s outsized pride in the accomplishments of his son, I would like to call your attention to the work of photographer Christopher Gannon at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Chris, who is a staff photographer for The Des Moines Register, is one of three photographers selected by the nationwide Gannett Co. newspaper chain to shoot the winter sports for the 84 daily newspapers that Gannett publishes. It is the assignment of a lifetime and he’s making the most of it.
He’s been shooting the alpine sports at the Whistler site and was there at the luge course Friday when 21-year-old Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia was killed on a practice run. You can see Chris’s photos and read his photo blog here, and his future postings each day at the Register’s website.
Nobody had ever heard of a blog or seen one back when his old man was an ink-stained newspaper editor, but even an old print curmudgeon like me can appreciate this new digital form of a reporter’s journal. Newspapers may be fading but journalism is not, and it will be guys like Chris Gannon who will prove that vivid, on-the-scene reporting and photography by professionals will remain priceless in the journalism of the future.